


Amare et Amittere: To Love and To Lose

by SemperAeternumQue



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Adoption, Estel being young and cute, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Gen, Mortality, Poor Elrond, Quadruple Drabble, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 09:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18753337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SemperAeternumQue/pseuds/SemperAeternumQue
Summary: Elrond watches his sons play and reflects on the future.





	Amare et Amittere: To Love and To Lose

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, and have some family feels! This a quick quadruple drabble that just begged to be written. It wouldn't leave me alone! (Fair warning: this one very nearly broke my ice-cold heart, so proceed with caution!)
> 
> As always, any feedback is much appreciated. Kind commenters make my day!

“Give it back!” Estel cries. “Come and get it, little brother!” Elladan responds. Elrond watches the young human chase Elrond’s son around the courtyard. He knows as surely as he knows anything that Estel will die. Even if the foul creatures of Sauron do not kill Estel, old age will take him eventually.

Elrond knows he will lose Estel as he has lost everyone before him, and yet he does not care.

Elrond is old. Very old. In his thousands of years, he has loved many people in many ways. A brother, a mother, three fathers. A cousin and a king and a wife. He has lost them all, but he cannot bring himself to regret loving them.

It was one of the first lessons he learned, growing up in war-torn Beleriand. Anyone can be ripped away from you at any time. So love them while you still can.

He and his brother, who had more years than any mortal but still few in the eyes of an elf, learned it well.

He can see Elros now, asking him, _“Isn’t it wonderful, Elrond? All these people, they live! They know they only have limited days, so they do not waste a single one. Isn’t that wonderful?”_ He did not understand at the time, but now with the wisdom of age and loss, he knows that Elros was right.

Even for the elves, a species meant to live forever, every day is uncertain. They do not have the certainty of death ahead of them as mortals do, but they can die all the same and die they do. In a world where Morgoth’s favored Maia still roams free, the future is never certain. You never know who you will lose and when, so it is better to live as much as you can for the time you have.

Elrond has learned that well over his years on Arda, and so although he will lose Estel, he loves the young mortal all the same. Every day with your loved ones becomes infinitely more precious when your days with them are numbered, and Elrond resolves not to waste a single one.

Elrond is not a fool. He knows that loving Estel will only bring him more pain in the end. Yet he loves the mortal all the same, for to have loved and lost is better than to have never loved at all.


End file.
